The seizure in February 2012 of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine in western Mexico fed growing speculation that country could become a world platform for meth production, not just a supplier to Arkansas and the United States.

The haul could have supplied 13 million doses with a total value of over $4 billion on U.S. streets.

The seizure of such a large quantity of meth is expected to have a big impact on the U.S. meth market. A pound of meth can sell for about $15,000.

The supply of methamphetamine in the United States has been growing, mainly due to its manufacture in Mexico, according to U.S. drug intelligence sources.

Russellville Police Department (RPD) Public information Officer Drew Latch believes the shake and bake form of methamphetamine production is not as prevalent in Russellville and drug dealer in the Arkansas River Valley are mostly contingent on the Mexican supply chain.

“A large percentage of meth comes from super-labs here and in Mexico,” Latch said. “Super-labs can make thousands of pounds of the highly addictive drug.”

“Interstate 40 is a major thoroughfare, but we do a pretty good job of catching them,” an agent with the 5th Judicial Drug Task Force (DTF) told The Courier. According to the Arkansas State Police (ASP), the volume of meth smuggled through Central Arkansas on Interstate 40 has increased in the past five years.

“More meth here than, gosh, every year it seems to go up. From grams to pounds,” an ASP trooper said. “Right now its been kinda quiet. To the best of my knowledge, the largest amount I’ve seen is approximately 11 pounds for one stop,” he said.

“Right now, the primary method for drug mules to get large quantities into or through the state is I-40,” the trooper said.

Eighty percent of the meth caught being smuggled into the U.S. is seized at the Mexican border, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center.

Few drugs do as much widespread damage — both to users and the general public — as meth, which is highly addictive. It’s produced with volatile chemicals that can lead to explosions.

Tom Farmer, director of the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force, believes the seizure could have a big impact in his state. Tennessee led the nation in clandestine meth lab busts in 2010 with 2,082, but the majority of meth in the state comes from Mexico.

“This could potentially put a huge dent in the supply chain in the U.S,” said U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne. “When we’re taking this much out of the supply chain, it’s a huge deal.”

The sheer size of the bust suggests involvement of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, a major international trafficker of cocaine and marijuana that has moved into meth production and manufacturing on an industrial scale.

Army officials didn’t say what drug gangs could have been behind the dozens of blue barrels filled with powdered meth. Army Gen. Gilberto Hernandez Andreu said the meth was ready for packaging. There was no information on where the drugs were headed.

Jalisco state has long been considered the hub of the Sinaloa cartel’s meth production and trafficking. Meanwhile, meth use is growing in the United States, already the world’s biggest market for illicit drugs.

The previous biggest bust announced by the army came in June 2010, when soldiers found 3.1 metric tons (3.4 tons) of pure meth in three interconnected warehouses in the central state of Queretaro, along with hundreds of tons of precursor chemicals used to make meth. A giant underground lab was also found in Sinaloa state.

The Sinaloa cartel, headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is equipped to produce and distribute drugs “for the global village,” said Antonio Mazzitelli, the regional representative of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

“Such large-scale production could suggest an expansion ... into Latin American and Asian markets,” Mazzitelli said. But he also noted, “it may be a product that hasn’t been able to be sold, and like any business, when the market is depressed, stockpiles build up.”

If you have information to share with law enforcement, call the DTF at (479) 968-6258 or RPD at (479) 967-2221. All calls are confidential.